Pilfer-resistant container



Filed Dec. 7, 1966 INVENTOR SAMUEL J. G. KINNON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3.464.577 PILFER-RESISTANT CONTAINER Samuel J. G. Kinnon, Rexdale, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Mallory Battery Company of Canada Ltd., Clarkson, Ontario, Canada, a private company of Canada Filed Dec. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 599,840 Int. Cl. B65d 9/32, 55/02 US. Cl. 217-65 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container having six sides, each side having edges with appropriately formed projections formed by cutting notches in the edges, the notches being cut to form the projections in a manner such that When the sides are assembled to form the container the projections are engaged with corresponding notches such that the sides can be pinned together in two directions, normal to each other.

This invention relates to a container; more particularly it relates to a container which because of its novel construction serves as a deterrent to loss of its contents through pilfering.

Valuable materials such as batteries, capacitors and multitudinous other items are continually being lost through pilfering during shipment of the articles. All sorts of containers have been devised to overcome this continued problem.

An object of this invention is to provide a container wherein the construction of the container makes it difiicult for someone to break open the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a container wherein it would be difiicult to pry open individually a top, end or side of the container.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a container wherein the sides, ends, top and bottom are pinned together in two directions on all six surfaces.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a container which can be easily disassembled for subsequent reuse.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in a novel construction combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the invention here disclosed may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the novel container;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded view of the container showing the relationship of its various sides;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view of one of the corners of the container.

In general, the objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing projections in two of the sides of the container diagonally opposite from each other, and in the four other sides, projections which are opposite each other at one end of the sides such that when the container is assembled the projections are engaged with corresponding notches formed in the sides by the projections such that the sides can be pinned together in two directions, normal to each other.

For the purposes of this invention it should be under- 3,464,577 Patented Sept. 2, 1969 stood that the term sides as used herein is meant to mean the sides, top, ends and bottom of the container as the case may be, according to its use.

Referring now to the drawings, the container 10 of this invention is generally shown as a box that is rectangular in shape. It should be understood, however, that other shapes such as square or oblong could be used. The container may be formed from material that is suitably strong for transporting various goods and yet be capable of being easily fabricated. Lumber or plywood could be used, for example.

As more clearly shown in FIGURE 2, the container is formed from sides 1 through 6, each of the sides having substantially fiat inner and outer surfaces 11 and 13 the outer peripheries of which are formed by edges 14. Notches 12 are cut along each edge 14 of each surface to form projections 15. The notches are preferably cut to a depth D that is equal to or about the thickness of the material used to form the sides, and to a length L equal to about one half the distance between the opposed ends of the edge being cut.

The novel feature of the present container, which makes it difficult for someone to break into the container, lies in the configurations formed in the sides 1 through 6 formed *by the notches. To be more specific, the arrangement of the notches to form the projections permits the sides to be joined together in a unique manner such that it is very difiicult to pry oil a single side. As shown in FIGURE 2, sides 1 and 2 have the notches so cut that the projections 16 and 17 are diagonally opposite projections 18 and 19. Conversely notches 20 and 21 will be diagonally opposite notches 22 and 23. In sides 3 through 6, the notches are out such that each side will have a projection 24 opposite a projection 25 both of which are in line at one end of the side. In like manner projections 26 and 27 are oppositely disposed at one end of the side. Conversely the notches 28 and 29 are oppositely disposed at one end of the side as will be notches 30 and 31.

It should be understood the term end of the side is meant to cover those uses in which the notches are cut a length that is half the distance between the ends of the edges being cut, as well as those cases where the length is less than half, in which case some of the projections and the notches would cover more than half (or an end) of an edge being cut.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, a corner of the container as assembled is shown. The corner is typical in that all of the corner assemblies will be identical. As shown sides 2, 4 and 5 are brought together such that projections 24, 27 and 32 mate notches 22, 23 and 35. The sides are then fixedly pinned together through a plurality of nails 36, the nails in projection 24 and 27 being in a direction substantially normal to the nails driven through projection 32. It should be understood that other types of fasteners such as screws can be used to pin the corners of the sides together.

It can readily be seen that this unique construction makes it difiicult for someone to break open the box by attempting to pry loose any one side. To be more specific, with reference to FIGURE 1, by way of example, assume that one wished to remove side 5, or as shown, the top of the container. Besides removing the nails in top side 5, one would have to remove all of the nails in the upper half of the four sides surrounding the top side.

While it is difficult to break into the container, the container can with proper tools, and enough time be disassembled and the sides preserved such as to render the container perishable.

From the description taken in conjunction with the drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention provides a new and improved container.

What is claimed is:

1. A container composed of six sides each having edges, projections formed in said edges, two of said sides each having two of its diagonally opposite corners formed from two intersecting projections, the other of said sides each having two of its diagonally opposite corners formed the same end of the side.

2. A container according to claim 1 in which each side is integrally connected to four other of said sides by nailing said projections to corresponding notches.

3. A container according to claim 1 in which said projections are formed from notches cut to a depth substantially equal to the thickness of the material being used to form said sides.

4. A container according to claim 1 in which notches forming the projections are cut to a length equal to /2 5 the distance between the opposed ends of each side.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,367,643 2/ 1921 Van Nostrand 52-270 270,683 1/1883 Luckner 217-5 2,057,942 10/ 1936 Fay. 2,558,591 6/1951 Starck.

FOREIGN PATENTS 885,051 12/1961 Great Britain. 421,585 12/1910 France.

RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner 

